The Ship, Wardour Street: what to order and when to go
A Fuller's corner pub on Wardour Street with Victorian glass, a rock and roll past and no bookings. Go early, order the ESB.
By Only Soho Editorial
The Ship sits at 116 Wardour Street, on the corner of Flaxman Court, and has been pulling pints for a very long time. It is a Fuller's pub with a loud, loyal, music-minded crowd, and it is one of the better places in Soho to understand how the neighbourhood and the bands got along.
What it is
The pub's own description calls it a lively local at the heart of the Soho music scene: relaxed at lunchtime, and it "really starts rocking" after dark. The room is long and thin, with a single bar, a traditional frontage and etched glass. A mirrored back bar runs along the left, with low and high tables, and the rear opens out a little, according to Pubs Galore. Corner.inc adds carved wood, dark panelling and music-scene photographs on the walls.
CAMRA records that the pub was damaged in the Second World War and rebuilt using as many of the original 1895 fittings as possible: etched and leaded glass, decorative mirrors and an ornate wooden bar-back. It also notes an extensive indie music collection, and warns the bar can be quite noisy in the evening.
A little history
Sources disagree on the exact founding year, so call it late 18th century. Pub history site pubwiki records a Lodge of Morality meeting here in 1777, and CAMRA says it was first licensed as the Ship in Distress. The address was 36 Wardour Street before the street was renumbered in 1878. A London Inheritance says it was rebuilt in the late 19th century.
The music story is the draw. The Marquee Club moved to 90 Wardour Street in 1964, a short walk away, and Record Collector quotes a musician, Parfitt, saying bands drank at the Ship before their Marquee gigs. The landlord has told Hobo Jack that David Bowie recorded at nearby Trident Studios and drank in the pub, and that The Clash drank there in the punk era. He also says Keith Moon was barred; the tale told elsewhere is that it followed a smoke bomb. Treat the rest as lore: it is said Lennon, Syd Barrett and Hendrix visited, and the pub is allegedly the one in Underworld's "Born Slippy".
What to order
Order a pint of Fuller's ESB, a regular at 5.5% ABV. CAMRA lists two regular cask beers and three changing ones, and Pubs and Beer rates both London Pride (4.1%) and ESB as good. The pub also promotes cider, wine and fresh food. Older write-ups describe a snack menu of pies and toasties, but check the food page on the pub's website before you rely on a particular dish. Price bands run from two to three pound signs on TripAdvisor and two on Yelp; we have no current pint price to give you.
When to go
For a seat and a conversation, go at opening on a weekday, when the pub describes itself as relaxed. Hours on the pub's own site:
- Monday to Friday: midday to 11pm
- Saturday: 11am to half eleven at night
- Sunday: midday to half ten
Check on the day, as the pub's site also carries an old refurbishment notice. After dark it gets louder and busier, with indie and rock on the stereo, and reviewers mention vinyl nights and lively Saturday afternoons. They also say service can be slow when it fills up.
There are no table bookings because space is limited, but walk-ins are welcome. Arrive early and you will find somewhere to perch.
For after
Walk a few doors down to 90 Wardour Street, the old Marquee site. The club is long gone from here, since the building was ordered demolished in 1987 and the club moved to Charing Cross Road in 1988, but it is the right place to stand for a minute with the history you have just been drinking next to.
Sources: the pub's own site, CAMRA, Record Collector and pubwiki.
